That's right! I've finally decided that I'm going to finish my season this year at the end of this month, which means that my last day of work will be the 28th of September. I've been busy planning, and I've found myself a route back home that should be full of fun! I'm going to camp over at Zion National Park, spend a day driving through Bryce, Capitol Reef, Glen Canyon, and stay at Natural Bridges National Monument. Then it'll be a long haul to Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, where I plan to save money by backpacking in to a campsite for the night - thus giving me the best look at the area in my limited time. After I leave there, I'll be going to Kansas City area to visit Drew and Holly, then up to Chicago to visit with friends there, and then it'll be home again home again! The whole trip should take me about a week.
I know, I know, you think it's crazy that I'm going to breeze through all those places and that I ought to give myself a bit more time. But here's the deal: I don't find it quite as fulfilling to visit these places by myself, so I don't feel the need to spend so much time when it's just me, I'm alright with just passing through.
Yesterday I went on an 8-mile hike with Mark and Lynn, who just so happened to come into Bodie the night before for the Vegan Potluck Night. It was nice to spend some time with them, and they treated me to dinner afterwards. When they dropped me back off at my car, I got two hugs each from them and we said goodbye until next time. I probably won't see them again this year, but maybe next season...
On a random side note, I'm busy reading "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed during my downtime in the kiosk. It's a phenomenal book. Cecile gave me a copy because she thought of me so much when she was reading it that she thought I absolutely HAD to read it myself. It definitely has me thinking, and the gears are turning in my head. And now I'm starting to wonder if I've got it in me to hike the Appalachian Trail. - That's right, the Appalachian, not the PCT, like she hikes in the book. The thing is: I've been in the Eastern Sierra two seasons now, and I find it a beautiful place, and I'm sure that the PCT would be nice, but I also am well aware of how steep some parts of the trail are (and I'm really talking about the downs) and I know that my knees don't appreciate that too much. The Appalachian Trail, I think, would be the slightest bit milder. Also, as far as timing goes, if I wanted to hike the PCT, I'd have to take off a summer because there'd be no way I could get through before the snow if I didn't. The Appalachian Trail is a bit lower, and a bit later in the snow and earlier out of it as far as I know, so I'm thinking it would work better timing-wise as well. I don't know... maybe I'm just crazy, but I think it would be great to do a long trail hike like that, just to see what would happen.
But first things first: I'm about to drive across half of the U.S. again.
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